Nates Mineshaft to take a break from a hectic start to a successful season thus far
Windy Hill Farm’s 5-year-old horse, Nates Mineshaft, has been running some big races this season, and it has proved to be a huge turn around for the Mineshaft horse, who had only won an allowance race and a claimer race prior to the 2012 season.
This season though, we have a different Nates Mineshaft altogether, who has been wreaking havoc on the tracks this season 4 wins out of 6 starts this season.
Trained by Austin K. Smith, Nates Mineshaft started off the season with a victory in an allowance/optional claimer at about 1 mile and 70 yards at Fair Grounds Race Course.
He stayed at the Fair Grounds Race Course for next two races, and landed them both, but the difference between his allowance win and the ones he landed after that was the fact that he suddenly started competing against a tough handicap division, with older
horses like Mission Impazible, and Toby’s Corner, and started to defeat them.
His first ever graded stakes race was his first ever graded stakes victory, when he landed the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap at about 1 1/16 miles.
Under jockey J. Campbell, Nates Mineshaft, was flawless as he downed Fast Alex in second and Alma D’oro in third to top the distance in 1 minute and 43.01 seconds.
Bred in Kentucky by Cobra Farm Inc. Nates Mineshaft stretched out in distance to 1 1/8 miles, when he ran in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap, and defeated the likes of Mission Impazible in second and Toby’s Corner in third. He covered the 1 1/8 mile distance
in 1 minute and 47.64 seconds.
At Churchill Downs, Nates Mineshaft was defeated by Successful Dan in the Grade 2 Alysheba Handicap in sixth, and then at Lone Star Park, Nates Mineshaft bounced back from his defeat to win the Grade 3 Lone Star Handicap.
On the back of his powerful performance in the Stephen Foster Handicap, when he finished third to winner Ron the Greek, Austin Smith has decided to rest his runner.
“I took him back to the track this morning and jogged him a couple miles, and he was a wild horse, so I don’t know if we should give him a break or not,” Smith said. “He really deserves one as hard as he’s been running. I’m inclined to give him some time
off and bring him back in late summer, early fall. He sure came out of the race great, though.”
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